Tue 6/20 @ 7PM
Cleveland’s New Ghosts is a presenter of avant-garde, improvisation-based music, the sort that has a small cadre of rapid fans and isn’t usually heard at your typical music venue. In fact, it’s often partnered with the BOP STOP, given its eclectic and often adventurous programming .
It’ll be doing so again this week when it presents Teiku: Reframing Ancestral Jewish Melodies, which it describes as “a night of exploratory improvisation with a focus on melodies sung during Passover.” Its key members are Chicago-based pianist Josh Harlow and Detroit-based drummer Jonathan Barahal Taylor, both from American Jewish families with ancestral roots in what now Ukraine. When they discovered their similar roots, the two musicians filtered the traditional melodies through jazz-style improvisation, as they continue work to uncover other Jewish family melodies. They’re joined by various other musicians: at the BOP STOP, Rafael Lefear will play woodwinds and Jaribu Shahid will be on bass.
“Teiku (a Talmudic acronym which means “unanswered question”) refers to the collective feeling of discovery that improvising musicians know well: creating spontaneous and cohesive sonic environments that are felt viscerally but cannot be expressed with words,” they share.
Admission is $15. You can also listen online on the BOP STOP’s Facebook page.
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